"Stop thinking with your glands!" (TOS 1:1)

The Man Trap (1st aired episode. NBC felt original pilot, The Cage, was "too cerebral.")
WIKIPEDIA EPISODE SUMMARY

So, this is the first aired episode of Star Trek. And wow...um...wow. So, between The Cage and this were a few years, and a lot of work to appeal to wider demographics. The intro sequence feels like riding the people mover in Magic Kingdom Orlando. We've got knight errant Kirk in place of Pike. Instead of making more room in the white boy's club on the bridge, they made Lt Uhura the female/black representative for the rest of us not white men. And the women's uniforms have changed! The high skirts and boots will definitely help keep that blood flow from the brain so things don't get too cerebral. Even with the outfit and expected female scripting of the time she is able to bring some personality to her character (which the boys apparently need to work up to). Go Nichols (Lt Uhura)!

Episode Highlights: Aztec looking remains, doc tasting strange tablet to confirm it's salt (no danger there), weird hand puppet plant, "how would you like her as your personal yeoman," lots of waitresses on a professional star ship (or I assume that's why all the women in short skirts are carrying food trays around the ship), and oh--my fav part of the episode--"stop thinking with your glands!"

The plot, predictably, starts with a woman who deceives the men around her, becoming their expectations and/or fantasies. In the seconds we confirm she is actually a killer, she turns into a he (well into Green to escape blame for deaths and look for more salt). A long search ensues, in which the salt monster (is the species even given a name?) takes on several appearances before finally being killed by  Dr.McCoy with a gun. Unlike Pike, Kirk has no inner conflict; he is confident and secure in his decision that salty needs killed. Sure, salt monster is like the last extict buffalo, but the buffalo wasn't killing crew members.

Why it couldn't be stunned and sent back to the planet to live out life as the last of its species is beyond me. Apparently we can just ransack the ruins of planets and eliminate any species that gets in the way. Poor desert yeti salt monster. Episodes lesson: Hope humans don't want your stuff. Onto the next episode, going boldly, but not so ethically...